An Introduction to the Solar Energy / Power Diverter
During any given day, solar PV panels will produce more energy than can be used by a household, so what happens with the extra energy?
With a solar battery, this energy will be stored for use when the panels aren’t generating any energy (like at night time), otherwise this surplus is sent straight to the National Grid. Solar power diverters are like solar batteries in the sense that they allow you to use any extra energy but they do so in a very different way.
The device will be monitoring the electricity being generated by your system all the time and compares this against how much is being used by appliances in your home. At times when there’s an excess, it will divert this extra electricity to your immersion heater.
Solar Battery vs. Solar Power Diverter
If you like the sound of holding onto more energy generated by your solar panels but are torn between a solar battery and a solar power diverter, there are positives points to having either.
A solar battery is likely to store much more energy than a power diverter will be able to use to heat up your water supply, which means that you won’t be holding onto as much of the energy your home is generating with a power diverter. Power diverters won’t cost you as much and don’t require the ongoing maintenance that batteries do, plus you’ll be taking some of the strain off your boiler while solar batteries can’t be disconnected from the mains.
Both are possible answers if you’re looking to get more out of the energy you’re generating, while saving money on your energy bills and not relying on your energy supplier as much.
You can find out more about solar batteries in our advice center.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Solar Energy Diverter
The key is the size of your solar PV system and also how much power you consume during the day. If you have a reasonably-sized array of 3-4 kWp and therefore are generally not consuming too much power, then the diverter could heat your water for free. This would mean a reduction in fossil fuel consumption if you have a traditional boiler, as well as Carbon Savings.
A solar diverter is what it says: a device through which any solar power not being used in your home is diverted to an electrical appliance, generally an immersion heater in your hot water and / or an electric heater. The load must be resistive.
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